LAUSR

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of different intracanal materials and the metallic artifact reduction tool (MAR) of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) on the detection of the second mesiobuccal (MB2) canal in maxillary first molars. METHODS Forty maxillary first molars were selected, such that half of them had the MB2 canal in the mesiobuccal root confirmed by micro-computed tomography. All teeth were instrumented, except for the MB2 canal, and filled with gutta-percha, which was passively inserted up to the working length. Each tooth was individually inserted into a dry human skull, and CBCT scans were performed using the OP300 device (Instrumentarium Dental, Tuusula, Finland) with and without the use of the MAR. For each scanned tooth, different intracanal materials were used in the palatal root: gutta-percha, silver-palladium (Ag-Pd), nickel-chromium (Ni-Cr) and cobalt-chromium (Co-Cr). Five examiners assessed the images for the detection of the MB2 canal using a five-point scale. The weighted Kappa test was applied to evaluate intra and interexaminer reproducibility. The diagnostic values (sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) were calculated in the different groups and compared by two-way analysis of variance and Tukey post hoc test. RESULTS The intra- and interobserver agreement ranges for the different conditions studied. The diagnostic values were not significantly different (p> 0.05) regardless of the intracanal material and the use of MAR. CONCLUSION The presence of different intracanal materials and MAR activation do not influence the CBCT-based detection of MB2 canals.